Nathan Drake goes exploring in higher quality

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection released to Playstation 4 owners Oct. 7th, giving long time fans the ability to relive the three renowned games of the series in higher quality on the PS4. Players control Nathan Drake, descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake who goes off in adventure in search of treasure and mystery, but only finding trouble along the way. He is joined by mentor Victor Sullivan, Journalist/Love Interest Elena Fisher, and more in the one of the cornerstone series for Playstation to this day. The release comes right before a real busy time in the video game market, where the upcoming months are littered with multiple Triple-A releases such as Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Halo 5, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Fallout 4, and the new Star Wars Battlefront.

The transition from console to console seemed really smooth, with no real bugs to fix from the beginning. All three games are accessible from the main menu and allow you to play the campaign from all three titles, including a mode where you can see how long it takes you to complete the whole series consecutively. This mode is surely to be a favorite with twitch gamers and speed run enthusiasts, and adds a new dynamic to the game. Also, the multiplayer from the third game is included in the bundle and works just fine, feeling very similar to the mode from The Last Of Us

The controls are basically the same, being no difference with the Dualshock 3 and 4. The only tweak is that of the touch pad on the PS4 controller, which is utilized well when it comes to the use of Drake’s Journal. The mechanics from Drake’s Fortune are still a bit wonky as it was on the PS3, which is a bit of a disappointment considering the upgrade users were led to believe in. Other than that, the controls and mechanics of the other two titles worked fine and looked lovely in a higher quality.

The graphics are impressive to say the least. Although the difference was very minimal in the first edition, 2 and 3 look just like a game you would expect on the PS4, with one instance in the series looking scaringly realistic. At the beginning of Among Thieves, Drake is dangling on a train on the edge of a cliff, and is forced to make his way up the side of the train and avoid plunging to his adventurous death. It looks absolutely breathtaking.

Overall, this collection of three incredible games works effectively at reminding gamers just why the series was so successful on the PS3, and gives them a little taste of what to expect when the fourth and final edition hits stores in February of 2016. Players that never got a chance to play through the Uncharted series now get the chance to and all for a reasonable price.